Substrate

Stone cracks under a boot.
splits the air, 
echo shivers into corners
you didn’t know existed.

A branch snaps,
its shadow bites the ground.
Step wrong, the soil gives.
Gravel scrapes against bone.

Water curls, insistent,
tugging at your pulse,
rising with no warning.
The rhythm you thought was yours.

Crow lands on the roof,
feathers bristling.
Wind t…